Anchors and stills

Every still a film needs: the one order every still prompt follows, storyboard frames, staging maps and cut-outs, then the photoreal anchors made in Nano Banana Pro and the stylised anchors made in Seedream 5.0 Pro. Voices are anchors too; they are made in Voice and lip sync.

Still prompts, storyboard frames and diagrams

Every generated still that shows a scene is written in one order. This section sets that order, then covers the frames your client sees, and the diagrams and cut-outs nobody but you and the model ever see.

• The still-prompt structure: One order for every generated frame, plate and internal still.

• Presentation and storyboard frames: Every image in a client presentation is a storyboard image or an illustration.

• Text, sourcing and the look block: Text lives on the page, never in the picture.

• Before a frame goes on a page: Six checks before any frame reaches the client, and the fixes for the faults they find.

• Staging maps, position images, scale sketches: A position image shows one fixed spatial fact a shot depends on: where people stand, where a car stops, a path, a size against a person.

• Transparent cut-outs: An isolated subject on a transparent background, for motion-graphics shots and layouts.

• GPT Image's two jobs and its version rule: GPT Image keeps only the two jobs the other stills models don't do: it generates with a transparent background, and it draws exact marks and short labels (decided).

Photoreal anchors (Nano Banana Pro)

Anchors are the approved images every video generation attaches: the people, the places, the product and the props of the film's world. This section makes them for photoreal films with Nano Banana Pro, checks them at full size, and checks each candidate place in motion before the client sees it. Stylised films use Seedream 5.0 Pro (see Stylised films (Seedream 5.0 Pro)).

The examples follow one invented brand, Shaybar, a loose-leaf tea sold in a tin, and its 30 s film: a kiosk owner in a Cairo side street brews the first pot at dawn, until a water pipe bursts over the kiosk.

• What an anchor is: An anchor is a new, consistently designed image, made once and attached to every shot that shows its subject.

• Settings and references: Set every setting, attach only approved anchors, give each image one job, and write in plain prose.

• Character sheets: One 16:9 image at 2K, three panels in one row, one wardrobe look per sheet, made in one generation.

• Skin and make-up tell the day: In an anchor, surfaces carry the character's life and day, so the video model renders a person rather than a render.

• Close-ups and casting stills: The identity close-up is the face every other image is checked against: every sheet, state and frame.

• State sheets: Any visible change gets its own sheet with a new name and version.

• Location plates: One people-free master plate per place, built around the action, then a reverse wherever the camera crosses and coverage for every other direction.

• Products and labels: The client's photos are the product.

• Prop sheets and detail locks: Only hero props get a sheet: the ones that are handled, passed, carry a gag or motivate a transition.

• Several people in one still: Nano Banana Pro holds at most five character images, so a group still is built in a set order.

• Internal start and end frames: A frame is made only where the method column of your shot plan names one, after the client approves the anchors.

• Edit passes, then a fresh image: Edit a near-miss; regenerate a structural miss [proven].

• The full-size check: Every image is checked at 100% before it is filed or used.

• The place motion check: A place can win as a still and lose in motion.

• Changed anchors and campaigns: Change only the anchor the client named, remake it as a new image, and ask before touching anything that depends on it.

• Anchor failures and fixes: Find the symptom, read the likely cause, and make one change for the next attempt.

Stylised films (Seedream 5.0 Pro)

A drawn, painted, clay or 3D film gets its own stills model and its own sheets. This section makes every still a stylised film needs, from the style anchor to the correction pass. How those stills go into video is in Video with Seedance → Attaching references.

• Seedream for stylised films: Seedream 5.0 Pro makes every still of a stylised film (decided).

• Settings and prompt style: Set every setting on every job, and write the prompt as plain prose.

• The style anchor: The style anchor is one accepted hero frame: the main character in one moment of the film, drawn in the film's exact style.

• Turnaround, expression map, state sheets: Drawn, anime, 3D and other stylised characters don't use the photoreal three-panel sheet.

• Stylised plates and props: A stylised plate follows the photoreal plate rules, drawn in the film's style.

• Stylised frames: Storyboard frames and internal frames for a stylised film follow the same rules as photoreal ones, made in Seedream from the style anchor.

• Correction passes: A correction pass cleans up one fault in a stylised still, in the model, with a short instruction.